It works well for "friend" (possibly due to the assumption the friend relationship is reciprocal?). but "A picture of my sister" might depict my sister and belong to me or anyone, while "a picture of my sister's" would show anything and belong to her.

Ha, yes, I see. I see . There is a difference in meaning when you consider the picture sentence. But what is odd is the 's'.

A picture of my sister's. The s looks like a leftover from his."My sister his picture". But then my sister is a her. Then I do understand you can't write or say " my sister'r picture".You could say though: "my brother's picture = " my brother his picture", hey ho ! Sinking deeper and deeper in the mud.

A picture of my sister's. The s looks like a leftover from his."My sister his picture". But then my sister is a her. Then I do understand you can't write or say " my sister'r picture".You could say though: "my brother's picture = " my brother his picture"

This is a commonly held misunderstanding of the origin of the 's possesive marker in English. It really comes from one of the most common OE inflexional endings for the genitive singular.

LukeJavan8
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 7409
Loc: Land of the Flat Water

This reminds me of the discussion of earlier this year concerning where do Churches come up with things like: " at St. Bernard's". St. Bernard is dead, cannot be a possessive.Yet even at the Vatican it is St. Peter's Basilica, in London it is St. Paul's. Someone mentioned the 'genitive' case above: whichas I understand it, indicates 'possession', yet a dead saint cannot possess a Church, etc.etc.etc. I like Pook's comment: don't expect consistence in the English language.

Yep, we've been through this before. The genitive covers more than just possession, despite the modern tendency to call it the possessive. You might say, for example, my brother's parole officer. Doesn't mean you brother owns the parole officer.

As to questions about a friend of my sister's, ask yourself this: Would you say a friend of me or a friend of mine.

Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site.
Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to
hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.